And I Get To Kiss You, Baby, Just Because I Can

Do you see this guy? Do you LOVE HIM? I do. See how he is kinda closing one eye when he smiles? He does that when he's laughing at me a little bit. Like when he thinks I'm being a little weird. It's sort of like a courtesy laugh, only he really thinks I'm funny, so even though he's pretending to laugh at me, really, he is laughing with me. I love that about him.



Most of the pictures from our trip are horrible. For some reason, handing my camera to a stranger and saying "would you mind taking a picture of us?" never turns out any way other than blurry. I don't get it.

I love him because he will kiss me any time, any place. He really loves me. That is so awesome.


We actually ended up having almost six whole days together before any kids showed back up. It was total bliss. We didn't argue even one time, and we laughed and talked and stayed up late eating cheesecake even after we were already ridiculously stuffed from Benihanas and every other thing we shoved in our mouths all week long.

We went to Jazz Alley and caught a pretty cool show. We love music.


Our waiter obviously didn't get the whole "wait til it's focused" concept. Oh well. This is us, in case you can't tell.


And the self-timer didn't work out so hot either.

Anyway. He's home. We're home. There's lots more to show and tell about, but for now, I just want to climb into my own bed with my husband and be happy that we're here. Together. Finally. I really love him.

The Countdown is ON!!!

I get to see my husband reeaaalllly soon, Jordan and Sam shortly after that, and Mika, Keola and Noe in about two weeks. I cannot WAIT!!!

I'm Kind of Like Grizzly Adams

This is my friend Mindy. When we moved here, I walked into church one Sunday and said, "Hmm... I'd better find a friend. I think I'll pick her." As it turns out, super choice. She was good enough that I haven't needed to find any others.

This weekend we decided to do some mountain biking. Here's how that went down.

1. Supposed to hook up with other friends in the mountains. "Hooking up" with people "in the mountains" can be a bit vague, and they might actually be hard to find... it being "in the mountains" and all.

2. Couldn't find friends right away. Bummer: friends had Mindy's kids' bikes. So we pulled off nearby where we thought we should meet them, and found this killer little stream.

3. Played in stream for an hour. Got very wet. Had lots of fun. Lost my sunglasses when they fell in the current. Bummer.


4. Discovered that rock bugs are real. Taught about them in 2nd grade science unit on camouflage. Thought they looked cool; sort of doubted their existence. Doubt no more.

4. Walked back up to car to get out lunch. Found this special delight:


5. Mindy and I worked on changing tire. Got very dirty. Here you will see her, dirty. It pays to be the one holding the camera. Our other friend showed up while changing tire, and got to take over and do rest of labor. Thanks Jeremy.

*Must be rough to be filthy and STILL so hot, right??

6. Finally got on some bikes. Yeaaaaaahhhh baby!!!

7. Had panic attacks. See this tunnel? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We had to go through at least ten of them. PITCH BLACK. We had some headlights, but they were feeble. It was super cold, and completely dark. Stalacites hanging from the roof, dripping water onto us. I almost couldn't do it. Oh, and guess where the deer like to hang out? Yeah. In the caves. I watch the news. I know how these deer are nowadays. Totally unafraid of humans. Not only unafraid, but they hate us to the point where they attack. I could have been killed... or worse... maimed.

*Picture on right shows degree of darkness at end of cave, as well as deer contemplating vicious attack on bikers.


8. Did deep breathing exercises and survived. Hit the pinnacle, and looked over to see this:

Picture "A"

See that trail? That's where we were headed. It was breathtaking. We were up above everything, the weather was unreal, and the scenery was not to be believed.

9. Biked about 14 miles on dirt/gravel trails. Got around to the other side in one piece. Not too shabby.

All told, it was an amazing trip. The biking was pretty easy for us, but the kids worked their tails off. I missed mine terribly, but was super proud of Mindy's for being hard workers with good attitudes.

I was a little nervous driving home on the donut. It was a three hour ride with 2 women and 3 children on back roads at night. Not my number one choice for safety. We made it, however, and both showed up to church on time today... looking and smelling WAAAAYYY better than we did last night.

One Hell of a White Picket Fence

After my stay with Paige, I went to go meet Jeni. I have gotten to know her really well, but have never had the chance to meet her. Let me tell you. It was well worth my effort to impose on her. She is something else.

As an aside, I have to restate here that for some reason, everyone I visited feels like they didn't do enough to "show me a good time". First of all: there's only one person who can REALLY show me a good time, and none of you are him. Unless, of course, you're reading this, B. Second of all: I think you are all insane, because every one of you took me someplace, fed me, gave me a bed, kept me company while my family is gone, and really made my trip wonderful. So no more of that talk from any of you.

Anyway. Back to business.
Can I just say that sista can COOK? Wow. We had shrimp, salmon, tri-tip steaks, brown rice, tomato salad (eat your heart out, Rachel!) and homemade white rolls that ripped me from my standard whole grain regimen. I secretly think people were conspiring to fatten me up. Frankly, I was a willing guinea pig.

Jeni's family was fun. At first I thought her husband was ignoring me. Then I discovered he is the witty, silent type. Turns out he's actually as crazy as Jeni. And her boys were so funny! I will keep all the family secrets quiet (no need to go public with who likes to wear what while watching a movie...) but suffice it to say, they wasted no time in making me feel like part of the family.

We took a day trip to Columbia, which is sort of like a refurbished old ghost town. There were tons of things to take pictures of, and I learned a lot about California state history. This is important because my husband is from California, and now I feel closer to him.

Here you will see a picture where I busted Jeni and Byron sneaking out of the Fun Sex bathroom. They were both giggling, plus Byron had that brown bag with a bottle in it. I knew the only thing to do was take a picture and ask no questions. So naughty.


There was panning for gold, shopping in an old country store, and a lot of laughing and playing.


Another treat was a visit from Denae. She lives by Jeni and Celia. So we sat around and talked until Celia's husband made her come home. He's such a ball and chain, that one.

My vacation was amazing. It is such a nice feeling to have friends. I cannot imagine sitting home by myself for six weeks. I would die of loneliness. Or I would die from running out of things to organize. Either way, I am really thankful I have the opportunity to travel, and the friends to make doing so worthwhile. So THANK YOU a million times over to everyone of you and your families for making me feel loved. And stuffed.

If You Should Ever Need a Substitute Family...

After I left Lisa's, I imposed myself upon my friend Paige. Paige was one of the first blogs I began reading, before I even had a blog. I spied on her and her sister Celia for a few months, and I found them to be witty and entertaining. Eventually, I decided I would make myself a blog, and after that, I began commenting on theirs. The rest is history. Is it crazy that you can become friends with people this way? Who knows.


I really love sports. We went to a Giants/Astros game. I pretended the Astros were the Red Sox, and it was really a lot of fun.

We walked around a lot during the game. Paige got checked out several times by guys. It was funny because she was completely clueless. I watched them all look at her, like what they saw, and then look down at the three small children trailing behind her. Suddenly, they weren't interested anymore. At least you know you still got it, mama.

Lots of the family was at the game. I met them. Here you can see Ellie's devourable baby, Sylvie. Ellie's blog is private, plus she never posts anymore. Hence the no linky. I loved meeting Ellie. She told me I was cute, and I'm always a sucker for the ego-stroke. Paige's kids were so much fun. It was late, and they didn't even whine or anything. If you have blog friends, you should try to meet them and their families in person. You will be so glad you did. You will all be nervous because you're worried you won't be as likeable in person. Turns out, you all really are.

The thing is, though, you have to keep an eye on these people. They secretly want you dead. You know this because they will make you buy these garlic fries. They know that if you eat them, you will probably die of a heart attack. So be careful when meeting blog friends. Sometimes they are actually vicious killers.

After the game, there was a fabulous fireworks display over the water. (Holy smokes, Christie, can you even believe these pictures???) Paige's family is very theatrical. I mean, really, they are into theater and stuff. They are not ashamed to be loud, or to perform in public. I am not ashamed to take pictures of them being that way.

Lastly, the fourth of July was celebrated with a delightful BBQ and baseball game at Mr. and Mrs. Paige'sparents home. They were very nice people, except for the part where the mom bossed me. I was planning on skipping out on the baseball game, but she made it explicitly clear that I would be playing. I said, "How about if I just take some pictures!?" And the Mom said, "No. You're playing. Everybody plays."

So I played. And it was fun.

I missed my family a lot. Holidays are not the same without them around. I am glad I have friends who are kind enough to share their families with me.

Produce, Poop, and a Party

At this point in the story, it becomes necessary to give a teeny bit of history.
Lisa and I have been friends for about fifteen years. We have travelled a lot together. We have weathered hideous missionary attire, awkward hairstyles, and a million life challenges. Other than my husband, she knows more about me than any living soul. This is why I keep her close. (As you can see in this shot, Mr. Potato head obviously missed the memo about wearing overalls that day. The rest of us clearly got it. Which is a shame.)



She now lives in the greater San Francisco area. Or the East Bay area, as some are prone to call it. So she showed me her city. It was terrific.
We hit the farmers market, which is basically a souped up trip through Costco on a Saturday afternoon. The free samples were out of this world. I just about lunched on them.


In spite of the excessive snacking on fresh wares, we were still hungry. So we stopped at a lovely restaurant on the water for some lunch. It was chillier than I had anticipated, so I opted for a warm, hearty bowl of clam chowder.


In this series of pictures, you will see me posing for a ridiculous shot by myself. Immediately after Lisa snapped the hideous tourist-at-restaurant shot, I heard a huge splat and felt all this warm stuff on me. I looked down, and wouldn't you know it... poop. Right there on my placemat. Splattered into my chowder and all over my arms. That was certainly a first for me. So much for dining al fresco.

After lunch and a bath-by-napkin-and-Aquafina, we walked around and checked stuff out. I grabbed some souvenirs for the kids, and even saw Alcatraz. If you ask me, that doesn't look like a very difficult swim to shore. No wonder they shut the place down.


And then we were at Ghirardelli Square. So we went in. It smelled so good. I saw these huge cookies. I wanted one. They were $3.50. That is outrageous for one cookie. I bought it anyway. IT WAS HORRIBLE! I am still in the process of writing the company to complain. It was like eating a hockey puck. Or so I would imagine. What a disappointment. At least Lisa shared her not-gross ice cream with me.

We hit Chinatown and Haight/Ashbury streets. The psychadellic, acid-trip street art was amazing. I wasn't even high, and I totally appreciated it.

Around supper time, we ventured into Little Portugal. We found a restaurant and ordered bacalhau to go. Bacalhau (which you will never, ever pronounce correctly) is dried salt cod. They reconstitute it and cook it with potatoes and olive oil. My dream in life is to soak in a tub of this stuff. Okay, that would be disgusting. But my point is that it is so delicious, I want to eat it a lot. Plus, it brings back great memories. Food memories are the best.

Lastly, her daughter had a birthday. She's six, like my Noe. Lisa threw together the most adorable 4th of July themed party. It made me feel slightly guilty for the lack of effort I've put into my kids' birthdays lately.

San Francisco is a cool place. I prefer to do my travelling with B. However, when he can't make it, Lisa is my next best choice. She is patient and funny. She is snippy when she needs to be, and I admire that in a woman.

'brigada, nha querida. Nta gosta tcheu de bo. Semp nta tene bo saudade.

Beijinhos.

Where to Even Begin??

So I just returned from a fabulous vacation. Last year, when the rest of my family took off for parental vistations and military training and left me all alone, I went East. Boston, Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Carolina... I have to surround myself with friends and family, otherwise it just gets too lonely. This year, I decided to try the Western posse and see how that worked out.

Good Choice.

I have debated how much detail to post, because there is so much. Should I just knock it all out in one post? Hit the highlights? Skim it all? Does anyone really even care?
I do. I care. And it's my bloggity blog. So while you may find all of these details cumbersome and long-winded, just pretend you're supporting me in my capture-for-posterity attempts.

So the first leg of my trip was to Jessica's. I probably got the least amount of sleep at Jessica's, because we did the most amount of staying-up-late-and-talking. She and her husband are both so enjoyable to be around. And her kids? So pleasant! I miss my kids a lot, so it's nice when other people's kids pay attention to me. I had a fantastic time, and I ate more strawberries in two days than I have probably eaten in my entire life. Jessica is a great cook, and frankly, who knew you could do so much with one simple berry?



Another highlight of this visit was that she lives by Jessica A, affectionately known by me as "the other Jessica". We recently started blogging together, and she is my secret blog crush. Could she be any sexier? I mean seriously. Wow. So Jessica R whipped up an out-of-this-world Cafe Rio lunch, and had The Other Jessica and her family over while I was there. We tried to tell ToJ to wear her orange shirt because we always plan our outfits together like that. But she was totally uncooperative, and now we just look like we're a bit early for Halloween. Way to ruin the moment, ToJ.


It was a great start to my vacation, and a million thanks to you Jessica for keeping my car and saving me a billion dollars in airport parking fees.

Next stop: my BFF Lisa.

Where I Be

I am alive and well. Just having a crazy good time in the city of San Fran. Quite a place. I have lots and lots to catch up on, but it will have to wait til the fun is over. Just wait til I get home and have absolutely nothing to do. I'll be posting daily, boring the world to tears.

Well, maybe not the world. But certainly all 30 of you readers.